The most comprehensive independent review of historical weather records to date showed that temperatures have risen since the 19th century. The Berkeley Earth project compiled more than a billion temperature readings from weather stations around the world and found that the average global land temperature has risen by around 1C since the mid-1950s.
The research was commissioned in the wake of the climategate scandal, to resolve the dispute over the validity of scientists’ previous findings of global warming.
However, the results are likely to come as a disappointment to groups which helped fund the project, which also support organisations lobbying against action on climate change.
The study produced a similar conclusion to research by major groups including Nasa and the Met Office, together with the University of East Anglia, which was criticised during the climategate scandal.
The University of California review also found that several key factors which climate change sceptics claimed skewed global warming figures had no meaningful effect.
"My hope is that this will win over those people who are properly sceptical," Richard Muller, a physicist and head of the project, said.
"Some people lump the properly sceptical in with the deniers and that makes it easy to dismiss them, because the deniers pay no attention to science. But there have been people out there who have raised legitimate issues."
The project was established Prof Muller to settle concerns that established teams of climate researchers had not been transparent with their data.
The move came after emails of University of East Anglia (UEA) climate scientists were hacked, posted online and used by critics to allege manipulation of climate change data.
Prof Muller gathered a team of 10 scientists, mostly physicists, including such luminaries as Saul Perlmutter, winner of this year's Nobel Physics Prize for research showing the Universe's expansion is accelerating.
The Berkeley group says it has also found evidence that changing sea temperatures in the North Atlantic may be a reason why the Earth's average temperature varies globally from year to year.
Funding came from a number of sources, including charitable foundations maintained by the Koch brothers, the billionaire US industrialists, who have also donated large sums to organisations lobbying against acceptance of man-made global warming.
"I was deeply concerned that the group [at UEA] had concealed discordant data," Prof Muller added.
"Science is best done when the problems with the analysis are candidly shared."
The team also examined concerns over the so-called urban heat island effect, which causes higher temperature readings near cities and has been used by sceptics as evidence of data being skewed.
The Berkeley research found the effect does not contribute significantly to average land temperature rises as a whole because urban areas make up less than 1 per cent of the Earth's land area.
"We have looked at these issues in a straightforward, transparent way, and based on that, I would expect legitimate sceptics to feel their issues have been addressed," Prof Muller said.
Origin "My hope is that this will win over those people who are properly sceptical," Richard Muller, a physicist and head of the project, said.
"Some people lump the properly sceptical in with the deniers and that makes it easy to dismiss them, because the deniers pay no attention to science. But there have been people out there who have raised legitimate issues."
The project was established Prof Muller to settle concerns that established teams of climate researchers had not been transparent with their data.
The move came after emails of University of East Anglia (UEA) climate scientists were hacked, posted online and used by critics to allege manipulation of climate change data.
Prof Muller gathered a team of 10 scientists, mostly physicists, including such luminaries as Saul Perlmutter, winner of this year's Nobel Physics Prize for research showing the Universe's expansion is accelerating.
The Berkeley group says it has also found evidence that changing sea temperatures in the North Atlantic may be a reason why the Earth's average temperature varies globally from year to year.
Funding came from a number of sources, including charitable foundations maintained by the Koch brothers, the billionaire US industrialists, who have also donated large sums to organisations lobbying against acceptance of man-made global warming.
"I was deeply concerned that the group [at UEA] had concealed discordant data," Prof Muller added.
"Science is best done when the problems with the analysis are candidly shared."
The team also examined concerns over the so-called urban heat island effect, which causes higher temperature readings near cities and has been used by sceptics as evidence of data being skewed.
The Berkeley research found the effect does not contribute significantly to average land temperature rises as a whole because urban areas make up less than 1 per cent of the Earth's land area.
"We have looked at these issues in a straightforward, transparent way, and based on that, I would expect legitimate sceptics to feel their issues have been addressed," Prof Muller said.
Source: Telegraph
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